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About Me

The Wandering Genealogist

My name is John Gasson and I live in a small village in West Sussex, England. I have lived there all my life (nearly 40 years) first with my parents (to whom I owe my love of history) and then with my patient and understanding wife (to whom I owe so much).

My love for genealogy was born out of my interest for local history and my first family history research experiences were not with my ancestors, but with people from the local area: licensed victuallers, brick makers and photographers. People who had far more interesting lives than my ancestors, or so I thought.

My interest in local history began at primary school (probably 20 to 25 years ago), developed during secondary school (when I made my first visit to the West Sussex Record Office) and continued into adulthood. Family history research probably started seriously about ten years ago, and developed into an addiction about four or five years ago.

I consider myself fortunate that most of my ancestors never moved very far, both my parents, all of my grandparents, seven out of my eight great grandparents (the eighth was from Hampshire) and 13 of my 2x great grandparents were born in Sussex.

It is very easy for me to go down to the West Sussex Record Office at Chichester and and find relations in the archives without really trying. Finding the specific ones I am looking for is sometimes not so easy!

My aim with this blog is to share some of my discoveries and the lives of my ancestors. Along the way I shall be covering some of the latest English genealogy news and anything else that I think will be of interest. Hopefully I will also be able to make contact with some distant cousins along the way who find me via this blog.

And the wandering part, well that’s because a couple of years ago I discovered the joys of walking and exploring the landscapes that were home to my ancestors. So expect to hear about that as well!